In response to Tony's comments, I bought Symphony of Voices about a
year ago and found it to be of very high quality, but Tony is right
about prices. $500 is way too much for the 4 CD-ROM set. I would
NEVER do that again. I just can not justify spending over $100 per
CD-ROM, no matter how good it is. I believe that if producers of
CD-ROMs would bring down their prices to in the $40 to $50 range, they
would sell so many that they would make much more money. Why is
Wal-Mart so successful? Because they sell a ton of stuff at prices
lower than the competition---and they are making lots of money. Plus
sample sounds take up a lot of memory and you must have some kind of
outboard recorder if you plan to use them in music. Add in the time to
load large memory sounds and they are pretty much useless in live
performance which means that you must record them earlier then play
along with them, which is OK, or not use many of the sounds. Just my
comments.

Ray Callahan
San Antonio


--- Tony Palermo <Palermo@...> wrote:
> Peter Schouten has written recently about the uncertainty of being a
> third-party Kurzweil soundware developer. He fears that
> Spectrasonics'
> decision to stop releasing new sample CDs in Kurzweil format signals
> the
> demise of the Kurzweil platform as a sample market. I disagree.
>
> The Kurzweil market isn't dead. It just needs some bolstering. And WE
> can do that.
>
> According to ex-Kurzweil support guru, Larry "Synthbro" Hopkins,
> there
> are 30,000 Kurzweil K-series instruments out there, world-wide.
> That's a
> huge potential market--and the key word here is "potential."
>
> As Kurzweil users, we need to support the *quality* soundware
> developers--especially small ones like Mike Martin's Key Solutions,
> Dennis Burns's Bolder Sounds and Peter Schouten's Pyramid Sounds.
> These
> guys have smartly chosen to provide the sounds Kurzweil and
> Sweetwater
> left out of their ROMblocks and CD-ROMs. It just so happens that
> these
> three small-timers produce the very sounds the I like most. I want to
> see them continue to offer these great sounds and I want them to
> thrive.
> What are samplers without sounds? It's in OUR interest to look out
> for
> THEIR interests.
>
> Support means buying their products and recommending them to other
> Kurzweilers. The purpose of this e-mail list is to spread information
> around. Let's do that by addressing the CD-ROM buying experience for
> Kurzweilers.
>
> THE GREAT FEAR
> The problem with buying sample CD-ROMs is the risk of blowing good
> money
> on sounds that you haven't heard. Prices vary from $129-$399 for
> Kurzweil format CD-ROMs and that price barrier stops many potential
> customers from taking ANY chances. All you need is to be burned once
> by
> a shoddy sound collection or poorly programmed "Kurzweil" disc and
> you'll be put off future purchases. We need to be confident that the
> sounds will be good and the programs useful.
>
> HOW DOES IT SOUND?
> Of course, one man's "good" sound can often be another's idea of
> "lame."
> Soundware developers can reduce sound quality fears with MP3 demos
> such
> as the excellent ones for Pyramid's "Real Rhodes" and other
> collections.
> These audio demos let the buyer decide if the sounds are to their
> liking.
>
> Whether you're shopping or not, take a few minutes and check out
> these
> MP3 demos:
> http://www.pyramid-sound.com/mp3_demos.htm
> http://www.boldersounds.com/mp3.asp
> http://members.aol.com/keysolutns/
>
> SOUNDS GOOD, BUT HOW DOES IT PLAY?
> The other questionable area is how well are the K-programs
> implemented,
> either with useful keymaps and envelopes, or with smart VAST
> programming. That'll take reviews, testimonials, and "I got burned by
> xxx" postings, here on KurzList.
>
> Here are some sound reviews worth looking at:
> http://sonikmatter.com/reviews/
> http://k2users.org/k_revu.htm
>
> CAN I GET A WITNESS?
> For the testimonials and "I got burned by xxx" info, I request that
> KurzList members post about both our good, AND bad sample
> collections.
> Also, please voice your opinions about other collections, such as
> Shane
> Etter's SoundSubscriptions and Brian Cowell's many free and for-sale
> sounds.
>
> http://members.aol.com/SoundSubs/SOUNDSUBS2.html
> http://www.soundengine.com/html/samp/k2000.html
>
> If enough members rave about "this" collection or trash "that" one,
> we
> can increase buyer knowledge and confidence--and THIS will translate
> into sales. More sales would spur more collections--and THAT would
> benefit everybody.
>
> Let's show Peter and every other Kurzweil developer that there's
> still
> life in this market. Post today!
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Tony Palermo - Los Angeles, USA
> Palermo@...
>
> Visit my Kurzweil K2000/K2500 Launch Pad [*** NEW URL ***]
> http://www.k2users.org/k_main.htm
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35
a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/